Between Two Sisters (contemporary western romance novella) (14 page)

“You
considered going back to Marty?”

“No, I’m done with him. But I’m done with you, too. You’re an honorable man, and I appreciate what you were willing to do for me, and our child, but it’s time to be honest with ourselves. The night we spent together was great, and I’ll always treasure our friendship, but this is not high school anymore. A mutual crush as teenagers and an unplanned pregnancy don’t make us right for each other, Billy. You know it, and I do, too.”

“Melanie-”

“I need you to go, in a minute, bec
ause this is wearing me out, but there’s one more thing you need to know- Cass is in love with you.”

-13-

“Cass hates me,” he scoffed.

“Right now, yes. But I know my sister, and she’s in love with you. That night you brought her home…well, let’s just say she’s never been so angry with me,
ever
. That’s not like Cass at all. Men have always come and gone in her life, and she’s never cared before. She’s always flitted from one to the next, and if someone drops her or she drops him, it’s no big deal to her, and she just moves on to the next one. Not with you, Billy. I’m telling you- she’s in love with you. And I know that you love her too. We gave it a good try, but it’s done now. We’re free. I really am sorry about losing the baby, but I think it might have been for the best.”

Billy could see that she was putting on a brave face for his sake, and he didn’t believe for a moment that she had accepted the loss of their baby yet.

“Can we talk about this later? You really need your rest.”

“Okay. Can you send my mom back in?”

“You got it.” He kissed her once more, and his mind raced. Did she really mean it, that she didn’t want to be with him now that the baby was gone? He had no disillusions that Cass would take him back, and it devastated him to realize that he may have lost not one, but both women he loved. Melanie’s words hurt, but deep down inside, he was relieved that this might all be coming to an end. Perhaps she was right about them.

Back in the waiting area, he r
elayed Melanie’s request to Mrs. Haffner, being careful to not even glance in Cass’s direction. Mrs. Haffner hurried off to rejoin Melanie, and Mr. Haffner pulled him aside.

“Melanie told me.”

“Told you what?” He was confused; he thought they were all on the same page about the miscarriage already.

“She told me
that you two were through, now that there’s no child on the way.”

Billy struggled
to come up with a reply.

“I imagine
that she’s not in her right mind, after all of this,” Mr. Haffner continued, “but I want to ask you to do the right thing here and respect her wishes. Give her time to sort it all out, but if that’s what she wants, I hope you’ll respect that.”

“I will.”

Mr. Haffner sighed and shifted uncomfortably, and Billy sensed there was more he had to say.

“I like you, Billy, you know that. But if she’s through with you, I’ll have to let you go from the ranch. I can’t keep you on, after all of this with my girls. You have to understand; it’s not personal, but I have to watch out for
them.”

“I understand, Sir.” And he did. If he and Melanie weren’t together, there was no reason for him to stay at the ranch anymore. His presence would cause too much pain for both of the Haffner sisters. “I’d like to come back tomorrow, to see Melanie.”

“I prefer that you don’t, honestly. She’s asked me to tell you to give her some space.”

“I see.” It felt like the world was falling away from him. Now even Melanie didn’t want to see him.

As he drove back to his cabin, the tears finally came. He cried for all he had lost- his unborn child, Melanie, Cass, his job…it felt as if his whole life had unraveled in just a few short weeks. He wasn’t worthy of either Haffner girl; he knew that now. It had been foolish to think he could just waltz back to the ranch, fall in love, and reclaim his youth. The whole Haffner family had paid dearly for his mistakes, as had he. It was time to put it all behind him.

In the morning
he arranged to have some flowers delivered to Melanie. He would respect her need for space, but he also wanted to let her know he was thinking of her. As hard as losing the baby was on him, he imagined it was even worse for her
.
He needed to let her know that she was on his mind, even after her declaration ending their relationship.

Mr. Haffner had given him a few days off because of all that had happened the night before.
While he was glad for the break from work because he’d be useless given his current mental state, having so many empty hours before him terrified him. He didn’t know what to do with himself, but he knew he couldn’t just sit around the cabin.

He decided to take Gobie out for a long ride. It would do him so
me good to get out in the fresh air and sunshine. Some of the other ranch hands were working in the barn when he arrived, but he wasn’t in the mood to chit chat with anyone. They all gave him a wide berth anyway. Since the news about him impregnating Melanie had come out, he had become the ranch pariah with the other staff members. He didn’t have the time or inclination to worry about it for the moment.

Gobie led the way, and Billy gave him his head so he could go where he wanted to wander. He had no destination in mind, so it was fine with him if his ride selected their path for the afternoon.
The horse wound his way around the back of the barn and onto the road to head towards the cattle barn. Billy found the idea of running into more of his co-workers unnerving, so he decided to steer the horse to one of the trails nearby. Gobie obeyed, and Billy felt some of his tension dissipate as they moved away from the barn.

As the horse ambled
into the open field, Billy spied a familiar mare racing across the field towards them- without a rider. His heart leapt into his throat when he realized the mare belonged to Cass. He let the horse flee past him; she was headed to the barn, and someone would grab her there, but where was her rider?

He urged Gobie to pick up the pace, and he called for Cass as he trotted across the field, scanning the landscape for her.

“Over here!” He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her call back to him from the far edge of the field. He halted Gobie, hopped off, and led him towards her voice as he walked on foot.

“Where?” If she could talk, she was probably
not seriously injured, but adrenaline still pounded through his veins.

“Here!” He spotted her through the tall grass. She was sitting on the ground, cradling her wrist, and her cheeks were streaked with tears.

“Cass, are you okay?” He dropped Gobie’s reins and raced towards her. His steed dropped his head and began to graze, uninterested in his freedom. He wasn’t going anywhere.

“I’m fine, except for this wrist.” Without thinking about it, Billy dropped onto his knees besides her and gently examined her wrist. It was already swelling up, and an angry purple bruise was blooming in one area.
“One minute I was riding along, and everything was fine, and the next my mare bucked, out of the blue. I think something stung her, and she got spooked.”

Billy released her wrist and gently laid his hand against her wet cheek as he stared into her bright green eyes. He was relieved her injuries didn’t appear to be too serious, and he couldn’t resist trying to comfort her.
“We need to get you to the doctor to see if it’s broken. Can you ride?” He debated riding back and grabbing his truck to come pick her up, but it was all the way back the horse barn, and he didn’t want to leave her alone like this.

Cass nodded hesitantly. “I guess I’ll have to, huh?”

Billy helped her to her feet, trying to ignore the close contact between them. He had her stay put, and he went and grabbed Gobie, who had wandered a little bit away from them as he grazed.

“I’m gonna have to lift you up there, Cass,” he warned.

“All right.” Billy carefully grasped her waist with both hands from behind and lifted her onto Gobie. It was awkward, putting his hand on the love that he had lost in such an intimate way, and the tension between them was palpable.

He grabbed Gobie’s reins and began to lead him across the field while she rode.

“Billy?” He stopped and turned to meet her gaze. “You can ride too. I mean, if you want to. I don’t think I should bounce around trotting or anything, but it would be faster if we both rode,” she said shyly. Her voice quivered a bit.

His mouth became dry as he considered riding with her. It would mean getting close, very close to her, and the mere thought of it made his heart race. He silently chided himself for trying to read further into her offer than was necessary. She was just being sensible; it
would
be faster if they both rode.

He didn’t answer her, but inst
ead motioned for her to slide forward in the saddle. Once she had, he swung himself up behind her and she handed him the reins.

“Hold onto me,” she said breathlessly as she leaned back against him. “I don’t feel so good.” He could see that she had broken into a clammy sweat from the pain in her wrist.

Billy hesitantly complied and held the reins in one hand. He wrapped his free arm firmly around her stomach and pulled her right up against her. If she fainted, he couldn’t let her fall.

“Let’s get out of here” he whispered in her ear as her head lolled against his chest, “Hang in there, sweetheart, we’ll get you some help.” She didn’t reply and Billy could tell she was in far more pain than she had initially let on.

He held Gobie to a brisk but steady walk as they made their way back to the horse barn, to his truck. Neither he nor Cass spoke, and he battled his urge to confess the deep feelings he had for her
as they rode. It was unlikely that he’d ever have her in his arms again, but he knew that he knew that it would be wrong to bring it up now. To take advantage of the situation would be selfish, and he stifled the words of love that rose to his lips for her sake.

He helped her down off the horse and into his truck before calling for one of the other ranch hands to put Gobie away.

Cass looked horrible. Her complexion was pasty and she was still sweating from the pain. Moving her around as they did to get her out of the fields had clearly made her pain worse.

“We’ll be there soon, you just hang on now,” he soothed as he started up the truck.

Neither spoke as they made their way to the hospital. At one point Billy snuck a glance at Cass and saw she had her head tilted back against the seat and her eyes closed. The grimace of pain on her face said it all.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Billy ran inside a
nd grabbed a wheelchair for her. As he carefully helped her out of the truck and into it, he deliberately tried not to notice their close proximity to each other. It was hard to ignore it.

Once the nurse at the emergency room reception desk saw how much pain Cass was in, she fast-tracked her to a triage room instead of asking them to sit in the waiting area to be called. Billy stepped out to phone Mr. Haffner and let him know what was going on. He and his wife were already at the hospital visiting Melanie, and they came right down to the emergency room once they were notified.

Billy wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He sat out in the waiting room, hoping to get news about Cass from the nurse, or news about Melanie from the Haffners once they were done checking in on Cass. He felt a bit out of place, like he had no right to hope to be kept informed about either of them, but he didn’t know what else to do with himself.

Mrs. Haffner came out to find him some time later. “It’s broken, but she doesn’t need surgery, thank goodness,” she informed him with a gentle smile. “I wanted to thank you for getting her here. She tells me that she might’ve been stuck out in that field all day, if you hadn’t shown up. She says it hurt too much to walk back for help, but you showed up at just the right time.”

“I’m glad she’ll be okay. How’s Melanie?”

“Better, but still weak. They’ll probably release her tomorrow or the day after.”

“Good. Well, I guess I’ll be getting home now. Thanks for letting me know how they’re doing.”

“Wait, Billy. We need to go back up with Melanie, and Cass needs a ride home. Do you mind hanging out
here a little bit longer, until she’d finished up? They’re waiting for the pharmacy to fill her pain medication prescription, and then she’ll be ready to go. She needs a ride home.”

“I would, but I don’t think Cass would like that.” It pained him to say it out loud, but he was certain it was true.
She had probably seen enough of him in that one day to last her a lifetime. No doubt she had put up with him long enough to get her to the hospital to tend to her broken wrist, but he imagined that’s where her tolerance for seeing him would end.

“I think you’re wrong,” Mrs. Haffner informed him confidently. “I know Mr. Haffner’s been telling you to steer clear, and that was good advice at the time, but things
can change.”

“What do you mean?” He didn’t dare hope that Cass’s anger towards him had softened yet.

She patted his arm gently. “Just bring her home, please. I’ve got to go back to Melanie.”